Carroll coy on Jackson's health

RENTON – Tarvaris Jackson practiced Wednesday, taking another small step toward being the starting quarterback when the Seattle Seahawks take on Cincinnati on Sunday.

But Seattle coach Pete Carroll still would not fully commit to Jackson being on the field this week, after a strained pectoral muscle kept him off the field against Cleveland.

For a second consecutive week, Jackson was a limited participant in practice Wednesday, taking repetitions during inside running drills in an afternoon workout.

And Carroll and offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell said, Jackson also took reps and threw the ball during a morning walk-through session in the indoor practice facility.

Carroll said Jackson’s throwing velocity by the end of the week will help determine whether he plays or not.

Carroll added that he’ll likely take the decision up to game time.

“It’s just whether he’ll be able to throw the ball the way we want to see him throw it,” Carroll said. “He’ll get the work. He took a bunch of reps today in preparation, so he’ll have all of the mental stuff done. But we have to really take it easy on him throwing.

“We just need to steal as much time as we can before we extend him, so that’s how we’ll go about it.”

Charlie Whitehurst took most of the snaps with the first unit during practice, with third-stringer Josh Portis again taking a handful of reps with the first team.

Bevell said the coaching staff has to balance getting Jackson ready to play while not pushing him so much that he suffers a setback.

“You’re always trying to walk the line of how much do you give them because you’d love him to have every single rep,” Bevell said. “You want him to have those looks, but you’re just not going to do it.”

So is it Jackson’s call if he’s ready?

“It probably comes down to that at this point,” Bevell said. “Because the injury is something that there’s really not a lot of background on, and so we have to go by how he feels and how he feels he can perform.

“There’s a certain level that you have to be able to meet, obviously. And so he’ll have to tell us how close he is to that.”

Bevell also talked about weighing the risk of Jackson’s re-injuring the pectoral muscle and being out for a long time versus playing him Sunday.

“That’s why we have the great doctors and medical staff in there to be able to tell us that,” Bevell said. “And I think to be able to even tell T-Jack that – how far he can push it, and how far he can take it. And I really think in this case they’re going off a lot on what T-Jack is telling them … there’s not a long history with quarterbacks that have tried to play with this specific injury.”

RB DEPTH JUST FINE

Carroll said that he plans to keep his running back rotation the way it is, with Marshawn Lynch as the starter, and Leon Washington and Justin Forsett as the reserves.

The Seahawks were surprised when Lynch developed lower back spasms during pregame warm-ups at Cleveland on Sunday, keeping him out of the game.

Both Washington and Forsett are good, shifty runners. But neither brings the physical type of running style that Lynch offers, which begs the question why Carroll does not bring in a similar type runner as Lynch in case he can’t play.

Carroll said that practice squad players Vai Taua and Allen Bradford are both hard runners who could be brought up to the active roster if Lynch can’t play.

“We have a couple guys in the system if we have to do something, but we think we’re fine,” Carroll said. “I think he (Lynch) is going to be fine for this game. He feels much better already this week than he did last week at any time, so I think we’re moving in the right direction there.”

EXTRA POINTS

Seattle defensive end Red Bryant confirmed he had been fined by the league for head-butting Cleveland tight end Alex Smith late in the game, which earned him an ejection. Bryant would not disclose the amount of the fine. … Along with quarterback Jackson (pectoral strain), running back Lynch (back), tight end Zach Miller (neck/head) and center Max Unger (foot) were limited participants in practice. Cornerback Brandon Browner (non-injury related) did not practice. Safety Kam Chancellor (back) was a full participant. … For Cincinnati, linebackers Thomas Howard (hamstring) and Rey Maualuga (ankle) did not practice. Cornerback Nate Clements (knee) and linebacker Dan Skuta (groin) were limited participants. And former Seahawks cornerback Kelly Jennings (hamstring) and cornerback Adam Jones (neck) were full participants. Jones is eligible to come off the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list, and could play in his first game of the year this week against Seattle.

Eric D. Williams: 253-597-8437 eric.williams@thenewstribune.com blog.thenewstribune.com/seahawks